Business

Vacant downtown shop fills up fast

JOSEPH PINCIARO PHOTO | A potential customer peers into the window at The Red Collection on Friday, the shop's second-to-last day.
JOSEPH PINCIARO PHOTO | A new consignment shop is planned for the site of The Red Collection, a Main Street business that closed last month.

The Red Collection consignment shop may have closed on Riverhead’s Main Street last month, but the store won’t be gone for long if one downtown business owner gets his way.

A new consignment shop called “The Blue Collection” is planned to open in the same building in the next few weeks, said Michael Mahon, the owner of the proposed business.

(UPDATE, OCT. 21: Plans for ‘The Blue Collection’ fall through less than one week later)

“I like to do this,” Mr. Mahon said. “I like stuff. Nothing makes me happier than opening up a box and saying, ‘What is this?’ ”

Mr. Mahon — who is also the co-owner of the 73 Main boutique store across the street — said he was disappointed to see the Red Collection close, adding that he was a client at the shop.

“I think it was one of the mainstays of Main Street,” he said. “I got a lot of customers from there.”

The store’s closing cast a pall over downtown, he said; Democratic candidates recently used the closed store as the backdrop for a campaign rally, which angered Mr. Mahon.

“Everybody’s walking around being negative,” Mr. Mahon said. “I need positive. I gotta take the action.”

He said he’s spoken with the landlord for the building and employees at the Town; he’s confident he can open the store soon.

Mr. Mahon previously worked at a furniture showroom in Miami and with Goodwill in New York City, where he learned how to quickly turn around items and keep inventory moving. He plans to apply that lesson to Riverhead, he said.

“I have high hopes,” he said of the proposed shop. But he said he’ll need the support of locals to have the store truly succeed.

“If Riverhead wants it, we can have it,” Mr. Mahon said. “It’s a consignment store, I can’t do it on my own.”

[email protected]